Adams to designate Elizabeth Street Garden as official NYC park to block housing project
Photo by James and Karla Murray exclusively for 6sqft.
To prevent Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani from turning Nolita’s Elizabeth Street Garden into senior housing as first intended over a decade ago, Mayor Eric Adams is designating the one-acre green space as official city parkland. As first reported by Gothamist, Adams is transferring ownership of the lot to the Parks Department, which would require any development on the site to be approved by the state legislature. The move comes less than two months before Mamdani, who said he would build affordable housing at the site, takes office.
Plans to build Haven Green, a 123-unit rental for extremely low-, very low-, and low-income seniors with a 16,000-square-foot public garden, were first announced for the site of Elizabeth Street Garden over 10 years ago and approved by the City Council in 2019.
The garden was a former vacant lot that Allan Reiver, who had leased it from the city beginning in 1991, turned into one of the city’s most unique spaces. Reiver, who died in 2021, filled the garden with items found at estate sales, like a gazebo, a 20th-century balustrade, and lion sculptures, as 6sqft previously reported.
The garden was not officially open to the public until 2013, when plans to build affordable housing on the garden surfaced. “The only thing to do was to open it to the public,” Reiver said in a 2019 interview with 6sqft. “Let the public defend it. Let the public fall in love with it.”
Lawsuits filed by the nonprofit tenant that operates the garden delayed the project for years. This past March, the garden was served a second eviction notice, but was never officially kicked out of the site.
“By this notice, the City unequivocally and permanently dedicates this property to public use as parkland,” Department of Citywide Administrative Services Commissioner Louis Molina wrote in a November 3 letter to the Parks Department, as Gothamist reported.
Adams, who had long been a vocal supporter of Haven Green, changed his mind this past June and canceled the development. As part of a deal worked out with City Hall, Council Member Christopher Marte said he would support rezoning efforts in Council District 1, including projects at 156-166 Bowery, 22 Suffolk Street, and 100 Gold Street.
“As we made clear in our agreement with Councilmember Marte months ago, we have moved to make Elizabeth Street Garden dedicated parkland, which will make the park fully accessible to the public while also allowing us to allocate Parks Department resources to this space,” First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro said in a statement to the New York Post.
During his campaign, Mamdani, who takes office January 1, said he would close the garden during his first year in office to build affordable housing on the site. With this last-ditch effort by Adams, the process to evict the garden will be more complicated.
Any development on city parks must be approved by the state legislature through parkland alienation, which includes an environmental review and legislation approved by the state Assembly and Senate.
Housing advocates pledge to continue the fight for Haven Green.
“With this disgraceful final act, the Adams Administration is once again prioritizing elite comfort over affordable homes for vulnerable elderly people. Eric Adams’ time in City Hall may be over, but this fight is not,” Andrew Fine, Chief of Staff at Open New York, said in a statement.
“In 2026, Open New York will be working with Mayor Mamdani, Governor Hochul, and the State Legislature to undo this pathetic lame-duck move.”
In an unrelated press conference on Thursday, Mamdani said Adams’ move makes it “impossible” to build housing at the site.
“The actions that the Adams administration has taken now make it nearly impossible to follow through with that,” Mamdani said, as the Daily News reported.
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